‘G7 Is Irrelevant’: 'Global South' Holds West Responsible For Ukraine Crisis, Says Think-Tank Chief

The G7 invited five countries from the ‘Global South’ - Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa - to the recently concluded summit in the German resort of Schloss Elmau. The group has urged cooperation from these nations in its campaign to "isolate"" Russia from the global political, economic and security order.

A retired Indian Air Marshall has told Sputnik that it is already “evident” that the developing countries don’t support anti-Russia sentiments of the G7 club, further arguing that most of the ‘Global South’ even holds the US and its allies “responsible” for precipitating the Ukraine crisis as well as its knock-on effects which led to global energy instability.

“The rest of the world is smarter in understanding than the western countries on how the [Ukraine conflict] emerged and who are the causal factors for this particular problem,” said Air Marshal (retired) Muthumanikam Matheswaran, who heads the Indian think-tank Peninsula Foundation.

Matheswaran has also served in the past as deputy chief of India’s Integrated Defense Staff (IDS).

“Around two-thirds of the world is not cooperating with the western countries’ push to support Ukraine or to condemn Russia. I think that they see that the issue is far more complex,” the former fighter pilot added.

Russia has said that NATO’s eastward expansion into Europe around Russian borders was the major reason for the launch of the special military operation in Ukraine. China has backed Moscow in holding NATO responsible for the Ukraine crisis.

India has kept its counsel over its Western partners, though New Delhi's permanent representative to the UN has appealed for diplomacy and dialogue in the crisis.

Meanwhile, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations have decried unilateral sanctions against Russia. BRICS nations make up 41 percent of the world's population, 24 percent of international GDP, and accounts for 16 percent of global trade.

“[The developing nations] actually hold the West responsible for the present crisis. Therefore, I don’t think that the ‘Global South’ is with them at all,” Matheswaran remarked.

The observations came a day after the G7 Summit in Germany concluded. A joint communique issued after the meeting called for “phasing out or banning the import of Russian coal and oil” from the global energy chain, even despite its recognition that the “burden” of rocketing energy prices has resulted in “market instability” and aggravated “inequalities nationally and internationally”.

Crude oil prices have been at their highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis in the wake of the US and European Union (EU)-led attempts to phase out Russian crude supplies from the international market in retaliation for Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The G7 leaders also said in their joint statement that the western allies would “reduce reliance on civil nuclear and related goods from Russia”.

Food prices have soared around the world after West-led efforts to ban Russian exports in March. The UN-backed World Food Programme (WFP) warned last week that “millions of people across the world are at risk of being driven into starvation".

G7 Could Worsen Global Energy and Food Shortages

Matheswaran reckoned that additional sanctions against Russia, as mooted in the G7 statement, could exacerbate the present crisis, which has led to high levels of inflation throughout developed and developing countries.

“Russia is not a small country that can be downsized with sanctions. It is a nuclear power and the world’s largest country with an enormous number of resources. Much of Europe depends on Russian oil and gas as well as its resources,” the Indian expert said.

“So, western powers need to find different solutions if they want to resolve their conflict with Russia. They must not coerce or push the rest of the world for their own, narrow objectives,” argued Matheswaran.

“It will cause more issues with food security, economic downturn,” he added.

Further, the member of the think-tank lauded Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not backing down on New Delhi’s decision to buy discounted Russian crude against the backdrop of a spike in global prices.

Modi told his G7 counterparts that India would “continue” to pursue its “energy security”, amid sustained pressure from Washington and Brussels on New Delhi to reduce its reliance on Russian oil.

G7 is ‘Irrelevant’, BRICS and G20 need to Step Up To Their Role

Matheswaran said that the G7 no longer represented the realities of the contemporary world order and groupings such as the G20 and BRICS were better equipped to deal with the problems facing the global community.

Indonesia, at present chairing the G20, has rejected calls by western governments to exclude Moscow from this year's G20 Summit in Jakarta.

“The G7 is irrelevant in today’s global structure. What should matter is groupings such as the G20, which reflects the larger global community and rationalizes economic processes across the world,” he said.

“The G7 is pretty much a collection of countries which are erstwhile imperial powers and they continue to, albeit in a different manner, practice that same process,” he said.

“They dominate the global economic system and they want everyone else to tailor their policies and structures to bring in benefits to the G7,” the Indian academic added.

Matheswaran said that BRICS, which also held an online leaders’ summit days before the G7 meeting, needs to step up to its role in global economic, political and security decision-making.

He noted that other developing countries such as Argentina, which has also applied for BRICS’ membership, must also be embraced.

Matheswaran also reckoned that the “privileged access” of G7 democracies to financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank needed to be “downsized and rationalized”.